PERSPECTIVES OF

INTERNATIONAL
ADVERTISING
International Advertising
 Advertising that crosses national
and cultural boundaries

 Important issue: Cultures not

nations define the nature of
advertising messages
Overcoming Cultural Barriers
Barriers to successful international
advertising:
 Ethnocentrism
– Tendency to view and value things
through one’s own cultural
perspective
 Self-Reference Criterion (SRC)
– Unconscious reference to own
cultural values, experiences, and
knowledge to make decisions
Cross-Cultural Audience
Research

 Economic conditions (LDC, NIH,

HIC)
 Demographic characteristics
 Values
 Custom and ritual
 Product use and preferences
Challenges in Executing
Advertising Worldwide

 The Creative Challenge

 The Media Challenge

 The Regulatory Challenge

Creative Challenge

 Written and spoken language

 Translation difficulties
 Culture-bound “picturing”
 Assumptions and inferences
 Identifying cross-cultural icons
and symbols
 Ad in Context Example

Why
Why could
could this
this ad
ad be
be
used
used on
on aa world-wide
world-wide
basis?
basis?
The Media Challenge
 Availability and Coverage
Too few options
Too many options
Global television now possible though

 Costs and Pricing

Complex due to many options
No set pricing in some markets
Global coverage is expensive
Regulatory Challenges

What are the . . .

 Products that can be advertised?
 Appeals that can be used?
 Times that products may be promoted?
 Rules regarding foreign language use?
 Restrictions on using national symbols?
 Taxes levied against advertising?
Regulatory Challenges

 Can you use:

Ads directed to children?
Foreign languages in ads?
National symbols in ads?

 Advertising may be taxed

International Agency Options
Global Agency
 Greater integration
 Economies of scale

Local agency
 Highly localized
 Execution risks

International affiliates
 Local market expertise
 Cultural adaptation
Ad Campaigns: Global versus
Local

Global Campaigns Local Campaigns

Message
Message Message
Message 11 Message
Message 22 Message
Message 33

Market Market
Market Market
Market
A
A B C
Trends Promoting Global
Advertising

 Global communications
 Global youth
 Universal demographics and
lifestyle trends
 Americanization of consumption
values
Arguments Against Using Global
Campaigns

 Audiences in different cultures place

value on different brand attributes
 Global campaigns can defy local customs
or ignore local competition
 Local managers will not support a global
campaign and message